This year’s celebration of the 41st anniversary of the liberation of Sinai coincides with the eradication of terrorism from the peninsula, which otherwise would have become a centre of terrorist operations.
However, the state leadership’s strong political will has enabled the Egyptian armed forces and police who made the ultimate sacrifice to eliminate the networks of terrorism in Sinai.
Celebrations also coincide with large-scale development in Sinai in implementation of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s vision the battle against terrorists in tandem with the battle for development. Social, economic, and cultural development is crucial to eliminating the breeding ground of terrorism and preventing its re-emergence.
Several development projects have therefore been carried out in Sinai. The electricity distribution network in the North of Sinai was upgraded from July 2014 to March 2023 at a total cost of LE2.1 billion. New factories, hospitals and universities have been established there. Sinai’s natural resources have been used to set up ten marble factories. Fisheries have also been established and several tunnels under the Suez Canal connect Sinai with the Delta region.
Since its liberation from Israeli occupation, Sinai was neglected, making it fertile ground for terrorist activity. The peninsula’s development was a real challenge for the Egyptian state until President El Sisi took office in 2014, when he declared a war on Sinai on two fronts: one against terrorism and another for development. Now Sinai is undergoing genuine developments for which its inhabitants have been longing for decades. Presidential directives are intended to raise the added value of Sinai’s mineral resources through the manufacturing and processing instead of exporting the raw material.
Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), founded in 2015, has breathed new life into Sinai by attracting investments to areas on both sides of the canal. The ports of el-Arish and el-Tur ports have been upgraded to enhance infrastructure for the SCZone. Al Galala City is now under construction west of the Gulf of Suez with luxury and middle-income housing, tourist resorts, hotels, a water park and a phosphate fertilisers factory. In September 2020, Galala University accepted its first students. Egypt’s first Olympic village is being built on this beloved spot.
The SCZone is working hard to attract investment to localise industries in East Port Said Region, destined to become an important manufacturing centre meeting the needs of the regional and local automotive markets.
Sinai Liberation Day will remind Egyptians of the achievements being done on the peninsula and the sacrifices of Egyptian armed forces to liberate it from terrorism.
Mohamed Fahmy is the editor-in-chief of The Egyptian Gazette and the Egyptian Mail newspapers
